Mission CG3: Centripetal Force and Inertia

Mission CG3 contains questions that target common miscconceptions and improper explanations associated with the sensation of an outward pull on an object moving in a circle or along a curved path. The mission consists of 28 questions organized into 7 Question Groups. You must answer one question from each Question Group to complete the mission. The learning outcome for this mission are ...
 

Learning Outcome

• The student should be able to use the concept of inertia to explain the reason that objects moving in circles have a tendency to move tangent to the circle.

 

Launch Mission CG3

 

Getting Help

If you are not familiar with this topic, then you should first learn about the topic using our written Tutorial or our Video Tutorial:
 

The Physics Classroom - Circular Motion Unit, Lesson 1, Part c

• What path would an object take if it quit moving in a circle?
• What is inertia?
• How does inertia have to do with the motion of objects in circles?
• What is this so-called centrifugal force?
• What does centripetal force mean? How is it important?
• What is the direction of the net force for an object moving in a circle?

 

Video Tutorials:

Circular Motion and Inertia

Centripetal Force Requirement

 

 

Question-Specific Help

Each Question Group has its own Help page with information specific to the question. You can access the Help page from within the mission by tapping on the Help Me! icon (textbook). For your convenience, links to those pages are provided below: